IT’S OFFICIAL: TRUMP WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY
After four years of divisive policies, Twitter rants and TWO impeachments, he’s poll-axed
DONALD Trump will leave office today as officially the worst US president in history.
Historians said the former reality TV star would go down as the most wretched leader since the United States of America was founded 245 years ago.
And his average approval rating backs that up, sitting at just 41% – lower than any president since polling began in 1938.
Mr Trump takes the dubious title thanks to four years of divisive policies and inflammatory rhetoric, a shambolic response to the coronavirus pandemic and his reign ending with him becoming the only president to be impeached twice.
He will finally relinquish power at noon today when Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president in front of the Capitol building in Washington.
Tim Naftali, associate professor of history at New York University, said: ‘President Donald Trump has long exulted in superlatives. The first. The best. The most. The greatest. But as his four years in office draw to an end, there’s only one title to which he can lay claim: Donald Trump is the worst president America has ever had.’
Mr Trump’s 41% approval average during his single term, according to pollsters Gallup, is lower than Harry Truman, who was at 45.4% over the eight years of his presidency. Mr Trump is also the first president never to get above 50% approval at any time.
It came as the most senior Republican once Mr Trump departs, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, explicitly pointed his finger at the president for helping to spur the attack on the Capitol. He told colleagues: ‘The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.’
In his farewell address last night, Mr Trump promised that ‘the movement we started is only just beginning’.
He hailed his record in office, claiming he ‘built the greatest economy in the history of the world’ and was ‘especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars’.
But he condemned the ‘assault on our Capitol’ by his supporters and said he will ‘pray’ for the success of the Biden administration. Mr Trump is due to leave the White House by 8am today and will become the first president to refuse to attend his successor’s inauguration since Andrew Johnson snubbed Ulysses Grant in 1869.
But his departure descended into farce when he was forced to send out desperate invitations asking people to bring along five friends to bolster a farewell ceremony.
He is demanding a ‘big sendoff with lots of flair’ and ‘wants to be surrounded by uniformed military’, insiders said. It will take place at Joint Base Andrews complete with a military band and a red-carpet walk as Mr Trump boards Air Force One for the last time.
Mr Biden’s inauguration today will be unlike any other due to the pandemic. There will be no galas and only about 1,000 guests. The National Mall has been closed off and replaced with thousands of flags to reflect those who would normally be there. Among the attendees today will be Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton. Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem and Amanda Gorman, the country’s first Youth Poet Laureate, will read a poem.
Mr Biden’s speech was still being worked on last night but has a theme of ‘America United’, and he will talk about national healing after being sworn in using his 127-year-old family Bible.
Mr Biden is planning to sign dozens of executive orders to reverse some of Mr Trump’s most divisive policies. The president-elect has pledged to rejoin the Paris climate accord and reverse the US exit from the World Health Organisation.
Washington was a sea of troops and tanks yesterday, with 25,000 National Guard soldiers in the capital. A dozen guardsmen were withdrawn because of ties to militias.